The present invention relates to a control system used with a precision farming system, and, more particularly, to a control system used with a headland turn sequence associated with an agricultural vehicle.
Precision farming systems are widely used with agricultural vehicles. In general, a precision farming system or technique uses geospatial data for a given geographic region (e.g., agricultural field, strip or other area) and carries out one or more specified tasks based at least in part on the geospatial data. The geospatial data is usually derived from a global positioning system (GPS) sensor located onboard the vehicle, and the position of the vehicle at least in part triggers various actions or tasks to occur.
For example, agricultural vehicles such as sprayers, fertilizer spreaders, planters, etc, can carry out variable rate application of a product to the field based on the geospatial data. The fields can be mapped for soil type, fertility or pH levels, etc, and the GPS data for the current position of the vehicle can trigger different application rates as the vehicle traverses across the field.
Many field operations (e.g., tillage and cultivation) require the operator to repeat a set of operations each time the tractor traverses the field and turns the tractor at a headland (which are the areas of untilled soil at ends of the field, which are typically worked last during operation). As implements become more complicated, these repeated operations become monotonous and tiring. Tractors that have some or all of these operations under electronic control lend themselves to the automation of these repetitive tasks.
Several Headland Turn Sequence (HTS) systems have been developed by tractor manufacturers with the aim of reducing the number of repetitive movements that the driver is required to perform. In general, one of more operations (or sequence events) are stored and/or recorded in a memory within a vehicle control unit (VCU), and based upon a trigger such as GPS data the HTS can be carried out automatically by the VCU. An example of such an HTS system is disclosed in EP 1 316 868 B1, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Other examples of HTS systems are described, e.g., in EP 2 710 873; EP 2 624 678; EP 2 020 170; FR 2 764 401, U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,950, US Pub. No. 2001/0016794. These systems range from simple automatic disabling of the power take-off (PTO) shaft when the hitch is raised to recording and playback of a complex sequence of operations. Known HTS systems may differ in the way in which the HTS sequence is recorded and played back, and may allow experienced vehicle drivers a degree of control over the recording and playing back of sequences while also permitting fully automated operation, which is more suitable for inexperienced drivers.
What is needed in the art is an HTS system that effectively carries out an HTS and provides easier operation by an operator.